The eighth day of November 2016
will be etched deeply in the memory of many a mind around the world for the
fact that an event which was deemed possible but not probable in the remotest
consideration was carved into reality by the American public – Donald John
Trump had not just defeated the crowd favorite, Hillary Clinton in the race for
the US Presidency, but virtually battered her out of contention long before the
final results were out. Donald Trump, a man thus far known more for his
brashness, misogyny and political incorrectness than for his achievements in
the political arena, Trumped all contrary expectations, including those of a
majority of Washingtonians, not to mention those of a battle-bruised media –
impaled time and again by his unrelenting barbs, to become the President Elect
of the most powerful nation of the world.

Trump’s election rallies leading
up to that phenomenal victory were flush with promises of resurrection of
America in the eyes of the world (under the assumption that it had fallen from
that pedestal, a theory which many would vehemently contest), and to give back
to Americans which had so far been denied them due to a liberal immigration
policy and outsourcing of jobs to non-Americans elsewhere in the world. By
campaigning for Americans, Trump was also not bashful in being seen as a
protagonist mainly for white Americans, and in making speeches discriminatory
to non-white American citizens and immigrants (that he mentioned his affinity
for “Hindus” once or twice seemed more like an expression of casual fancy and
counted for nothing in his overall racist rhetoric). In the same context, when
the whole world has been loath to associate global terrorism with any
particular religion, he minced no words in giving terrorism the brand name of
Islam and promising to make all Muslims persona-non-grata in the US if he came
to power. It is all very well to design an election campaign with bohemian
promises and declarations to cater to the interests and emotions of a certain
section of the laity, which is not uncommon even in our own country, and
promises during such campaigns are always taken with more than their allocated
pinch of salt. However, it is far from common to see a politician actually get
about fulfilling each and every promise, that too with such amazing alacrity,
even before the dust of a furious election campaign had hardly settled down. Donald
Trump is very unlike many of his predecessors, in that he is a man hard to
read, and harder to predict. In keeping with this character, he is throwing up
one surprise after another, as he goes on an order-signing spree, with all the
impetuosity of a charging bull. He started with the cancellation of Obamacare –
the high profile social health mission launched by the outgoing president,
which in itself was not such a bad thing perhaps, in the eyes of many
Americans, but the actions that subsequently followed began ruffling feathers
everywhere – at home and abroad alike – as he launched into diplomatic offensives
against countries he perceived to be a either burdens or inimical to the
interests of America. First on his radar was China, whom he has all but branded
enemy number one, as he threw an open challenge to the Asian giant over its
claims over the South China Sea, as also its influence over Taiwan. Then he
signed an order to put into action his much-vaunted election promise of banning
entry of Muslims into the US, as he signed a blanket executive order banning
visas to all citizens of five Muslim majority countries, one of which was Iran.
It has come as a surprise to many that Iran has featured higher on the potential
terror list, ahead of countries with greater potential on that front – namely,
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. But it seems like there is a system to Trump’s
“madness”, even as his actions betray a definite lack of political
understanding. This is more emphasized in the fact that even strong American
allies such as Japan and Austrailia had to face the brunt of his coarse diplomacy
– Japan being chided for its lack of contribution towards American welfare, and
the Australian PM reproached for being an intransigent ally in Trump’s racially
and communally disintegrating policies. It is now becoming ominously clear that
Donald Trump’s politics and diplomacy are guided solely by his personal likes,
dislikes and prejudices rather than by any factual evidence to boot. In the
midst of all the pandemonium, however, India has managed to hold its ground,
somewhat vindicated – on the terrorism front, somewhat relieved – in the hope
of Trump being less of a patron for Pakistan, yet somewhat mortified, given
Trump’s assertions on immigrant workers “snatching” the jobs that rightly
belonged to native Americans.

Coming to the bigger picture in
the context of the US of A, perhaps the biggest cause for concern is Trump’s utter
disregard for public opinion in respect of his policies, and his presumptive
arrogance in labeling all those who oppose his actions, including a vast
majority of the print and visual media, as stooges propped up by his political
foes to derail his “vision” for America. Yet, the most important and
indisputable fact that has eluded his consciousness till this point is that
America is a land built upon a foundation of it being a country of immigrants,
who have lent their blood and sweat to build the many edifices of
democratic and mutual co-existence that
America is so proud of; of it being a country where people are at a greater
liberty to live the life of their choice and express their opinions than most
other parts of the world; and most of all, it being a land where the divides of
race, color and religion are not to erode the values of civil liberty that
America stands for – all of which are enshrined in the American Constitution
and have gone a long way towards realizing the Great American Dream as
visualized by the illustrious ancestors of the great nation. Has Donald Trump
given a thought to what might happen to this dream in the pursuit of his own,
contrarian dreams? America, with all its innate flaws such as racial
discrimination and religious intolerances, has been a country of right-thinking
citizens, who have all been continually striving to make American society free
of such evils, which is what makes it a country worthy of emulation. It
certainly can do without a person, that too one who occupies its highest office,
from embarking upon such misadventures which are likely to tarnish that carefully
nurtured image.